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A New Line of Running Gear for People Who Love Old-School Style

Tracksmith is a new line of running gear that's shunning the slick neon trends for a more streamlined aesthetic.

The Longfellows short is a nod to co-founder Matt Taylor's love of running in basketball shorts. The goal was to create a longer short that felt weightless.

The Van Cortland short is made from Schoeller mesh. So is its liner---a nice detail.

You could call Tracksmith the anti-Nike. The brand is all navy, maroon and forest green.

The greyboy is made from a custom cotton blend Taylor wanted to model after an old t-shirt from the '70s he found in his father-in-law’s closet.

The singlet's armholes were iterated time and time again to ensure there would be no rubbing. Its slits are positioned to encourage air billowing up the back.

The spike bag is made from scrap material found on the floor of the New England Shirt Company, which manufactures for brands like LL Bean.

Google “running wear,” and you’ll get a page filled with skin-tight neon tank tops and plastic-looking booty shorts. Since when did getting fit require you to look like a crossing guard? In the running world, subtle wardrobe choices are hard to come by. Even more difficult is finding clothing that can stand the test of repeated, sweat drenched running sessions.

Tracksmith is a new line of running wear aimed at filling that void. The company’s products are high tech without looking high tech. In fact, the five items it's launching with look like they were taken straight out of a Yale track team photo from 1960, which sorta makes sense considering Tracksmith co-founder Matt Taylor was once a competitive runner at the university.

You could call Tracksmith the anti-Nike. The brand is all navy, crimson and forest green; the silhouettes more varsity track team than intergalactic sprinter. And yes, the line’s timeless, New England aesthetic is a direct response to the overload of flashy clothes that hog the market. “I had a pair of shoes that had ‘energy control system’ written across a velcro strap,” says Luke Scheybeler, Tracksmith’s co-founder and head designer. “And it’s like, no it’s not an energy control system, its a velcro strap. We think sportswear needs to grow up a bit.”

The Tracksmith singlet and Longfellow short.

Tracksmith

The company is launching with five products—a singlet, t-shirt, bag and two pairs of shorts. The shorts and singlet are each crafted from high-end materials from swiss textile manufacturer Schoeller. “The Rolls Royce of fabrics,” says Scheybeler. “Or maybe the Rolex, is a better Swiss example.” The t-shirt is made from a custom cotton blend Taylor wanted to model after an old t-shirt from the '70s he found in his father-in-law’s closet. The drawstring Spike bag, too, has its own little story, as it’s made from the factory floor scraps from the New England Shirt Company, which manufactures for brands like LL Bean.

All this to say, Tracksmith is producing pretty nice stuff in a market that’s full of throwaway clothes. Both co-founders come to the company from a sports background. Taylor as a runner, coach and head of marketing for PUMA's running categories, Scheybeler as a co-founder and previous creative director of cycling brand Rapha. Because of that, they approach Tracksmith with a keen eye for subtle detail.

Take, for instance, the Longfellows short. The short, which uses a four-way stretch fabric from Schoeller, hits a couple inches above the knee and looks more like something you’d wear to brunch than on the trails. “Exactly,” says Taylor. “We call it the Whole Foods test,” adds Scheybeler. “Would you wear these shorts to do your grocery shopping?” There’s a little slit on the waist that’s sized perfectly to a credit card (keeping it at the waist prevents any annoyances), and there’s a pocket positioned in the small of your back for your phone.

Similarly, the guys designed the skimpier Van Cortland shorts to have a liner made from the same luxurious mesh as the outside of the shorts. Most shorts use a thin-as-crepe liner made from cheap material. “It renders the shorts basically useless after several wears and washes because it totally bags out,” says Taylor. Tracksmith’s products have a little more heft than what you might be used to, but the guys say they’ll wear much better than the thin polyester we’ve become accustomed to. No surprise here: Tracksmith’s prices reflect its use of high-end textiles and domestic manufacturing. A pair of Longfellow shorts will run you $90, a singlet $66 , Van Cortland Shorts $60 , spike bag $35 and a greyboy t-shirt for $55.

Will you look like the odd man out running your morning path in your preppy new outfit? Oh totally. But maybe that’s not such a bad thing. “Neon only goes so far,” says Scheybeler. “Conservative is the new radical.”